he becomes too weak to fight them, he should wait until he has the strength to overcome them. If he makes a truce with them in return for money, the truce is void, and the money is examined. If it consists of their fayʾ revenues or zakat funds, he does not return it to them; rather, he distributes the zakat among those entitled to it and the fayʾ to its rightful recipients. If it consists of their private property, he may not appropriate it from them; he must return it to them, because they paid it in exchange for something they were not entitled to obtain.
No siege engines are to be set up against them, nor are their dwellings to be burned or their trees cut down, because it is the Abode of Islam. Abu Bakr related this from Ahmad in his book al-Khilāf, through the report of Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥakam.
They are not to be attacked with mangonels when fighting the Muḥammirah. But if the rebels surround the people of justice, and they fear being overrun by them, they may defend themselves by whatever means they can, including resorting to killing them and setting siege engines against them. A Muslim may defend himself by killing one who seeks to kill him if the threat cannot be repelled by any other means.
It is not permissible to make use of their mounts or weapons, whether in fighting them or otherwise. When the war ends, any property of theirs held by the people of justice is returned to them. Whatever of it is destroyed outside combat must be compensated by whoever destroyed it. Whatever of their persons or property is destroyed in the heat of battle is not compensable. Whatever the people of justice destroy outside the heat of battle, whether life or property, must be compensated by them; but whatever they destroy in the heat of battle entails no liability upon them and is not compensable.
Funeral prayer is offered for the rebels who are killed, and they are washed. As for those of the people of justice who are killed, there are two reports regarding washing them and offering funeral prayer for them. The first is that they are not washed and no funeral prayer is offered for them, because their fighting is in defense of the religion and is therefore like fighting disbelievers. The second is that they are washed and funeral prayer is offered for them. ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, and ʿAlī were prayed over and washed, even though they had been killed wrongfully.
If dhimmi merchants pass by the rebels’ ʿushr collectors, who levy the ʿushr on their goods, then, once the rebels are subdued, the merchants are charged the ʿushr again; what was taken from them does not discharge this obligation, unlike what is taken as zakat. This is because they passed by them merely in transit, whereas zakat is collected from those residing there.
If the rebels commit offenses carrying fixed legal penalties before they are subdued, those penalties are imposed once they are subdued. A rebel who kills a person of justice does not inherit from him. But if a person of justice kills a rebel, he inherits from him. The same applies to any killing carried out lawfully.